Meet Our Religious Education Staff

Sara Sautter

Sara Sautter began her career as a Director of Religious Education (DRE) in 1998 at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Antonio. After serving this church for three years, she and her family moved to the Kansas City area where she served the Shawnee Mission Unitarian Universalist Church for ten years as their Director of Religious Education and three years as the Director of Congregational Life. After retiring in 2014, Sara returned to the field in 2017 to serve as an Interim DRE. She has been trained as an Interim Director of Religious Education by the Unitarian Universalist Association. She is also a member of the Guild of Liberal Interim Religious Educators.

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION TEACHING STAFF

Janey Madlani

Janey Madlani – Preschool Teacher

Janey grew up in Cambridge, England. At 18, she moved to Canterbury, Kent, where she went to University and studied a BA in English and Radio, Film and Television Studies. After graduation she began a long career in journalism working in radio and TV and then music programming in London where she met her husband. In 2008 she had a son, studies to become a teacher and taught in public school for five years. Janey has a black cat called Oreo, and she love singing, cycling and playing chess with her son.

Alaina Haynes – Kinder to Second Grade Teacher

Alaina Haynes

Alaina is a fourth year student at UC Santa Barbara, where she studies Ethics and Public Policy. She is also an RA in a social psychology lab and volunteer with Cottage Pediatrics. Growing up in Irvine, she was actively involved in the children’s ministry at her UCC church, planning interfaith curriculum and annual events.

Christina Boardman

Christina Boardman – Third to Fifth Grade Teacher

Christina is a Santa Barbara native. She graduated from Scripps Women’s College and is a Neuroscience Master’s student at the University of Strasbourg, in France. She has returned home to finish her thesis. When not in lab or church you can find her playing board games or catering to the demands of her cat, Tigern.

Nicole Ellis

Nicole Ellis – Nursery and Childcare Provider

Nicole grew up in Monterey, CA, home of the beautiful Monterey Bay Aquarium. She moved to Santa Barbara in 2017 to start college at UCSB as an Anthropology major. When she is not on campus or doing homework, she loves to run, cook and bake, babysit, and play with dogs that remind her of the one she misses back home in Monterey!